My grandmother taught me to crochet when I was very little, somewhere between 8 and 12, but I can't be certain. I remember the yarn (a nice wine-colour in the only thing really available at the time: acrylic). I picked it out myself from my grandmother's massive, and I do mean massive yarn stash. Huge closet, filled floor to ceiling, back to front with bags upon bags of yarn. Intimidating, beguiling, perhaps a glimpse at my future... only time will tell. I remember the hook (double ended, or I suppose afghan hook, purple, H size). Far too well I remember the "square" I made. Counting wasn't a big part of my life at that point; seems funny now that I have a degree in Accounting. Tangent aside: I was so discouraged by that first attempt that I never really went back to it for years. I dabbled a little here and there, but then my best friend Phae started on the fibre arts. Don't remember how, probably the wool fumes, but she'd asked me to teach her to crochet. As soon as I grabbed that hook, and I remembered how to make a chain, my grandmother's words came back to me: "She took to it like a duck to water". I was off again.
Taught Phae to crochet, and she taught me how to knit. Continental style for those who might give enough of a hoot to know (picking, if you will). And it was all over bar the tears and cursing from there.
My camera's dead at this point so I won't have pictures for a while, but I'm hoping to put something up here. I'm no designer, I'm not super inventive, I'm still technically a beginner, but I'm bolder now that I know I'm not alone (see links above for hope and inspirational source; I'm a hopeless fangirl sometimes, too).
The other reason I started this blog: The Other Half (we still argue over who's better) has been giving me weirder looks than usual lately, so my
Now to the (k)nitty gritty of it all.
Patterns on the go:
1) Sweater, destined for TOH. I fear the sweater curse, and so, appropriately, have put zero expectations on him for the wearing of said sweater. The Knitting Powers That Be have decided my efforts are truly hilarious and have f***** me over royally. Knit the back with few issues. Knit most of the front then ran out of yarn. Unable to find yarn (I picked something without a dye lot, don't spaz) for a year and a half. Daunted multiple times by neck shaping (resulting in six frog backs on that part alone). Finally had a lightbulb moment on the neck shaping, and finished the front, then cast on for the sleeve. At this point, my developing knitter's voice said: "This seems loose. The gauge swatch was fine right? You didn't mush it or stretch it to fit did you? Better check the sweater itself."
Every.
Inch.
Wrong.
The curse rebounded and hit the sweater. One trip to the frog pond, and one trip to a Michael's store later, I have 7.5mm needles and about half a back re-knit.
2) Socks v1.5, also destined for TOH now that I have the resulting sock down to a size that doesn't assume he's going to catch gout in the near future. As a note to any who may be thinking of it, the Paton's Stretch Socks yarn has a lot of give to it. A LOT. So be prepared to either knit like you're choking the life out of it, or go way down a couple needle sizes (I'm not a loose knitter and I did a gauge swatch and it still turned out huge, your experiences may vary)
3) Random afghan #1, while crochet, is a work in progress. I will be mixing it up on here, get used to it (just wait until I try my hand at spinning). It's meant to use up some of my "beginner" yarn, some stuff I had kicking around from when I finished other projects (which I will show if only to establish my weirdo factor and Learning Experiences)
4) Heirloom afghan, which is almost done. Just a couple more rows then a border. It's made up of granny squares made by my friend B's mom. B knits, doesn't crochet, and she has a sweetheart of a daughter who misses her grandmother still (grandmother passed away a couple years ago), so I volunteered to take charge of these squares and form them into a blanket that could last into the next generation. It's been a slog, and as soon as I can find the time to have that heavy thing sitting on my lap for several hours while I work, I'll get it finished. I promise!
5) Practice square thing, a.k.a. a nice way of saying it's a bunch of scraps of yarn I'm using to practice colour changes whenever I have a spare moment, usually while sitting at my computer when I'm waiting for something else to load. Much easier just to say "Practice Square Thing" I think.
That's about it for the works on the go right now. I'm sure there will be more later. Knit Picks is shipping me goodies, and I'm trying to be patient but it's so hard. And even when it does show up (with yummy yarn, some for me and some for TOH's stuff) I know that I should finish one of the other projects first. *Le Sigh*
Addendum: Just confessed to TOH that I made this blog, and he chuckled at my fibre pathology, saying "It is fibre now, isn't it. Yarn wasn't good enough. Yarn just wasn't enough." I had to agree at that point, because I am strongly thinking of getting silk hankies and spinning them myself to make singles. He came back with: "So acrylic is a gateway yarn?"
* The conversation went like this:
The Other Half: "Sweetie, it's your birthday. I'm buying dinner tonight, don't worry about it"
Me: "Really? Sweet! More money for yarn!"
TOH: *long pause* "Wow, you just skipped obsession and compulsion and went right for pathology there didn't you?"
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